Trump focuses on health care, search for national security chief

Published 3:31 pm, Sunday, February 19, 2017

A vehicle stops at the gate of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017, while President Donald Trump is at the club. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

A vehicle stops at the gate of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017, while President Donald Trump is at the club. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Photo: Susan Walsh, Associated Press

Trump focuses on health care, search for national security chief

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump was stepping up his search for a national security adviser Sunday and focusing on health care in talks with his health and budget chiefs, while his team pushed back against depictions of a young administration in disarray.

His chief of staff used appearances on the Sunday news shows to echo his boss’ complaints about media coverage of the White House and cited what he said were multiple accomplishments in the first few weeks of the Trump presidency.

“The truth is that we don’t have problems in the West Wing,” Reince Priebus told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Priebus also denied a report that Trump advisers were in touch with Russian intelligence advisers during the 2016 campaign and said he had assurances from “the top levels of the intelligence community” that it was false.

After weeks of tumult in Washington, Trump returned to Florida and his private club for a third straight weekend as he tries to refocus. High on his to-do list is finding a replacement for ousted Michael Flynn as national security adviser.

Trump pushed out Flynn last Monday after revelations that he misled Vice President Mike Pence about discussing sanctions with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential transition. Trump said in a news conference Thursday that he was disappointed by how Flynn had treated Pence, but did not believe Flynn had done anything wrong by having the conversations.

Trump’s first choice to replace Flynn, retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, turned down the offer.

Top House Republicans last week presented a rough sketch of a health overhaul to rank-and-file lawmakers. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has said Republicans would introduce legislation repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act after Congress returns in late February, but he offered no specifics.

Also on Trump’s Sunday schedule: calls to the leaders of Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago.